~ History of the Newsboys Strike of 1899, through actual newspaper articles from the time.

July 31, 1899: “Rochester Newsboys to Go On Strike”

Rochester Newsboys to Go On S rike [sic]

ROCHESTER, July 30—The newsboys in this city who sell the New York World and Journal have decided to go on strike and refuse to sell the papers mentioned because they want more pay. The lads think that by concert action they can practically shut off the sale of these papers here and can hinder other boys from vending them. The Rochester newsboys are obliged to pay a cent and a quarter for the Journal and World, or at the rate of 100 copies for $1.25. They ask that the papers be given to them at the rate of $1 per 100 papers, or 1 cent a copy. Ike Lazarus, one of the older boys, is their leader, and he thinks he can engineer the strike effectually. He is a middle man, as it were, between the publishers and newsboys, and the latter declare that what he says goes.